Amazon ups its tally of UK workers to 40,000 with announcement of new Sorting facilities

Amazon has announced the addition of 10,000 new permanent roles across its UK facilities, taking the company’s total permanent UK workforce count to more than 40,000.

Earlier, Amazon had added 3,000 new permanent jobs in its UK fulfillment centers, sort centers, and delivery stations – including at a new hi-tech fulfillment center in the North East of England, which opened in May. The company said it hopes to add another 7,000 new permanent roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, including Corporate offices and two new fulfillment centers that are coming up in the autumn in the Midlands and North East.

The company will be hiring engineers, graduates, HR and IT professionals, health and safety and finance specialists, as well as a team of customer service personnel that will look after the deliveries.

The new additions will help Amazon meet growing customer demand and enable small and medium-sized enterprises to sell on Amazon to scale their businesses.

Stefano Perego, Amazon’s Vice President of European Customer Fulfilment, said: “Our people have played a critical role in serving customers in these unprecedented times and the new roles will help us continue to meet customer demand and support small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon.”

With the e-Commerce boom that hit along with the Pandemic, with more customers turning online for every small need, Amazon hired thousands of people on a temporary basis to fulfill the orders. Many of these people will now transition to permanent roles soon.

With the festive season approaching, Amazon plans to hire nearly 20,000 temporary people to sites across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and three pop-up fulfillment centers.

The reason for the new hires are the three new, state-of-the-art fulfillment centers in Darlington, Durham and Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, which will create 1000 jobs each.

Amazon is also giving out 700 apprenticeships in the IT engineering, fashion buying and digital marketing departments.. A typical apprenticeship combines theoretical learning with hands-on training, enabling participants to obtain qualifications and degrees and earn money in the process.

The London area’s minimum pay will be £10.50 p/h in the London area and £9.50 p/h in other parts of the UK for all full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal roles in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, sort centers and delivery stations.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “While this has been a challenging time for many businesses, it is hugely encouraging to see Amazon creating 10,000 jobs in the UK this year.

“This is not only great news for those looking for a new job, but also a clear vote of confidence in the UK economy as we build back better from the pandemic. The government remains deeply committed to supporting retailers of all sizes, and we continue to work closely with the industry as we embark on the road to economic recovery.”

Amazon has invested over £18 billion in its UK operations since 2010.

Earlier this year, Amazon had faced some backlash and lawsuits due to overcrowding in its facilities and not following the Cover 19 distancing guidelines, putting the health of its workers at risk.

In response, the company introduced new technology, including a wearable device that alerts employees when they’re too close to each other. It is just in the testing stage and has not received good reviews. Another tool is a display board that will show people who are maintaining the correct distance as green circles and those who are not in red.

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Source: New feed